1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to testing of web-based application servers configured for generating web pages for voice enabled web applications within a hypertext markup language (HTML) and hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) framework.
2. Description of the Related Art
The evolution of the public switched telephone network has resulted in a variety of voice applications and services that can be provided to individual subscribers and business subscribers. Such services include voice messaging systems that enable landline or wireless subscribers to record, playback, and forward voice mail messages. However, the ability to provide enhanced services to subscribers of the public switched telephone network is directly affected by the limitations of the public switched telephone network. In particular, the public switched telephone network operates according to a protocol that is specifically designed for the transport of voice signals; hence any modifications necessary to provide enhanced services can only be done by switch vendors that have sufficient know-how of the existing public switched telephone network infrastructure.
An open standards-based Internet protocol (IP) network, such as the World Wide Web, the Internet, or a corporate intranet, provides client-server type application services for clients by enabling the clients to request application services from remote servers using standardized protocols, for example hypertext transport protocol (HTTP). The web server application environment can include web server software, such as Apache, implemented on a computer system attached to the IP network. Web-based applications are composed of HTML pages, logic, and database functions. In addition, the web server may provide logging and monitoring capabilities.
In contrast to the public switched telephone network, the open standards-based IP network has enabled the proliferation of web based applications written by web application developers using ever increasing web development tools. Hence, the ever increasing popularity of web applications and web development tools provides substantial resources for application developers to develop robust web applications in a relatively short time and an economical manner. However, one important distinction between telephony-based applications and web-based applications is that telephony-based applications are state aware, whereas web-based applications are stateless.
In particular, telephony applications are state aware to ensure that prescribed operations between the telephony application servers and the user telephony devices occur in a prescribed sequence. For example, operations such as call processing operations, voicemail operations, call forwarding, etc., require that specific actions occur in a specific sequence to enable the multiple components of the public switched telephone network to complete the prescribed operations.
The web-based applications running in the IP network, however, are state-less and transient in nature, and do not maintain application state because application state requires an interactive communication between the browser and back-end database servers accessed by the browsers via a HTTP-based web server. However, an HTTP server provides asynchronous execution of HTML applications, where the web applications in response to reception of a specific request in the form of a URL from a client, instantiate a program configured for execution of the specific request, send an HTML web page back to the client, and terminate the program instance that executed the specific request. Storage of application state information in the form of a xe2x80x9ccookiexe2x80x9d is not practical because some users prefer not to enable cookies on their browser, and because the passing of a large amount of state information as would normally be required for voice-type applications between the browser and the web application would substantially reduce the bandwidth available for the client.
Commonly-assigned, copending application Ser. No. 09/480,485, filed Jan. 11, 2000, entitled Application Server Configured for Dynamically Generating Web Pages for Voice Enabled Web Applications the disclosure, of which is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference, discloses an application server that executes a voice-enabled web application by runtime execution of extensible markup language (XML) documents that define the voice-enabled web application to be executed. The application server includes a runtime environment that establishes an efficient, high-speed connection to a web server. The application server, in response to receiving a user request from a user, accesses a selected XML page that defines at least a part of the voice application to be executed for the user. The XML page may describe any one of a user interface such as dynamic generation of a menu of options or a prompt for a password, an application logic operation, or a function capability such as generating a function call to an external resource. The application server then parses the XML page, and executes the operation described by the XML page, for example dynamically generating an HTML page having voice application control content, or fetching another XML page to continue application processing. In addition, the application server may access an XML page that stores application state information, enabling the application server to be state-aware relative to the user interaction. Hence, the XML page, which can be written using a conventional editor or word processor, defines the application to be executed by the application server within the runtime environment, enabling voice enabled web applications to be generated and executed without the necessity of programming language environments.
Rigorous testing of new technologies is important to ensure quality and reliability of products during commercial deployment. The above-described application server disclosed in the above-incorporated application Ser. No. 09/480,485 could be tested using conventional test tools such as web server benchmarks, standard web browsers, or telephony load generation tools. None of these existing test tools, however, can test application features or effectively isolate the performance of the application server in preparation for commercial deployment. For example, conventional web server benchmarks, configured for testing response times to multiple iterations of the same request from web clients, are not designed for testing an application server executing a state-aware application such as a voice application in response to different requests. In addition, conventional telephony load generation tools configured for testing telephony devices are inadequate in testing the above-described application server, since use of such telephony load generation tools would necessitate use of a proxy browser, described in the above-incorporated application Ser. No. 09/480,485, as an interface between the application server and the telephony load generation tools. Consequently, the use of a proxy browser between the telephony load generation tools and the application server limits the ability to isolate the performance of the application server, since any detected problem may be caused by any one of the application server, the proxy browser, or the associated communication links.
There is a need for an arrangement that enables precise testing of an HTTP-based application server configured for executing voice applications on an IP packet switched network.
There is also a need for an arrangement that enables an HTTP-based application server, configured for executing voice applications on an IP network, to be tested for application-specific features or events, such as application features found in voice-enabled voice applications.
There is also a need for an arrangement that enables web-based control of testing of an HTTP-based application server, configured for executing voice applications on an IP network, including execution of selected tests, gathering test results including test statistics, and displaying the test results on a web browser.
These and other needs are attained by the present invention, where an HTTP-based load generator is configured for outputting HTTP-based application-specific requests to an application server, configured for executing a state-aware application, based on execution of prescribed scripts that specify generation of the application-specific requests according to the state-aware application. Each script specifies parameters for a prescribed sequence of requests for a prescribed application operation for the application server, enabling the load generator to provide a sequence of requests, simulating the sequence of requests that would normally be sent by a user of the application server during a user application session.
One aspect of the present invention provides a method in an executable system for testing an application server configured for executing a voice web application by sending responses to requests via a Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) connection. The method includes executing at least one selected script from a plurality of scripts, each script configured for specifying parameters for a prescribed sequence of requests for the voice web application. The method also includes outputting, to the application server via the HTTP connection, the prescribed sequence of requests based on execution of the corresponding selected one script. Execution of a selected script enables testing of a corresponding set of voice web application operations by the application server, where the prescribed sequence of requests emulate the HTTP requests normally sent by an HTTP-based browser. Hence, the application server can be tested to ensure each voice web application operation is executed properly by executing the corresponding selected script. In addition, execution of the selected script enables the executable system to generate multiple instances of the selected script, each instance capable of outputting the prescribed sequence of requests for a prescribed number of iterations. Hence, the application server can be tested for loading conditions based on the number of concurrently-executed instances, and long-term performance based on the number of iterations (e.g., over days or weeks) within each instance.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a system configured for testing an application server configured for executing a voice web application. The system includes a storage medium for storing scripts, each script configured for specifying parameters for a prescribed sequence of requests for the voice web application. The system also includes an executable runtime environment configured for selectively executing at least one of the scripts, the executable runtime environment outputting, to the application server via a Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) connection, the prescribed sequence of requests based on execution of the corresponding selected one script.